Multifunction smart door device

ABSTRACT

Multifunction smart door devices may be part of a system of multifunction smart door devices installed within or near stateroom doors of a cruise ship. Each smart door device can control access to a stateroom based on facial recognition or a wireless credential and can perform other functions such as controlling stateroom personalization features, providing an electronic peephole function, allowing controlled access for authorized crew members, accommodating remote unlocking, and providing notifications. Data obtained by the smart door devices can be provided to the cruise operator for service, safety, or security purposes, such as for anonymized foot traffic analysis, hazard detection, and stateroom access auditing. Smart door device functionality may be implemented in part by customers&#39; mobile devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/867,461, filed May 5, 2020, titled “MULTIFUNCTION SMART DOORDEVICE,” which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Technological Field

The present application relates to Internet of Things (IoT) devices forcustomers of a service provider, such as but not limited to a cruiseoperator or other hospitality or entertainment provider. In particular,the present application relates to multifunction smart door devices.

Description of the Related Art

Cruise ships are often described as floating cities. These ships aredesigned to provide every convenience and necessity to hundreds and inmany cases thousands of passengers, while keeping the passengersentertained during a sailing that can range from 2 days to as many as 4weeks. Passengers must be able to access secured accommodations such asstaterooms. Furthermore, various services and/or operations associatedwith passenger accommodations may be desirable or necessary, such asdeliveries, maintenance, dining, security, admission of visitors orcrew, and the like. It is desirable to provide connected services toimprove passenger comfort and efficiency.

SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices of this disclosure each have severalinnovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for thedesirable attributes disclosed herein. Without limiting the scope ofthis disclosure, its more prominent features will now be discussedbriefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly afterreading the section entitled “Detailed Description” one will understandhow the features of this disclosure provide advantages over otherhospitality solutions.

In one aspect, a smart door device for stateroom access control on acruise ship is described. The smart door device comprises a housingdisposed within or proximate to a door of a stateroom of the cruiseship, the door being unlockable by an electronic door lock; a local datastore within the housing in communication, via a ship-based network,with a ship-based data store having stored thereon a plurality ofcustomer profiles associated with individual customers embarked on thecruise ship, the local data store having stored thereon at least aportion of one or more profiles of the plurality of customer profiles,the one or more profiles associated with customers permitted to accessthe stateroom; a wide angle camera disposed at an exterior of thehousing and configured to image a public area of the cruise shipadjacent to the door of the stateroom; a proximity sensor disposed atthe exterior of the housing and configured to detect the presence of anobject within the public area of the cruise ship adjacent to the door ofthe stateroom; and a processor within the housing and in communicationwith the local data store, the proximity sensor, and the wide anglecamera. The processor is configured to receive, from the proximitysensor, a signal indicative of the presence of an object; capture, bythe wide angle camera in response to the signal, an image of a face of aperson disposed within the public area; locally generate, based on oneor more facial recognition software algorithms and the at least aportion of the one or more profiles, a facial recognition resultindicating that the person is one of the customers permitted to accessthe stateroom; and cause, in response to the facial recognition result,the electronic door lock to unlock the door of the stateroom.

In some embodiments, the at least a portion of the one or more profilescomprise one or more user stateroom preferences associated with theperson, and the processor is further configured to modify aconfiguration of a networked appliance within the stateroom in responseto the facial recognition result. In some embodiments, the one or moreuser stateroom preferences comprise at least one of a default climatecontrol setting, a default in-room media setting, a default lightingsetting, or a default window shade setting. In some embodiments, theprocessor is further in communication with one or more sensorsconfigured to determine whether the stateroom is occupied or unoccupied,the processor further configured to modify the configuration of thenetworked appliance within the stateroom in response to the facialrecognition result only if the stateroom is unoccupied.

In some embodiments, the wide angle camera is a video camera configuredto capture video footage of the public area of the cruise ship adjacentto the door of the stateroom. In some embodiments, the processor isconfigured to display the captured video footage to one or more of thecustomers associated with the stateroom as a live stream. In someembodiments, displaying the captured video footage comprises playing thelive stream on an inward-facing display of the smart door device. Insome embodiments, displaying the captured video footage comprisestransmitting the live stream to a mobile device associated with the oneor more of the customers associated with the stateroom.

In some embodiments, the local data store further stores an identifierof one or more crew members authorized to access the stateroom. In someembodiments, the processor is further configured to allow the one ormore crew members to access the stateroom based at least in part on afacial recognition result or a proximity-based credential correspondingto the one or more crew members, and based at least in part onevaluating a business rule stored in the local data store. In someembodiments, the business rule causes the processor to allow the one ormore crew members to access the stateroom only during a predeterminedtime window, and to deny access to the stateroom for the one or morecrew members outside of the predetermined time window. In someembodiments, the processor is further in communication with one or moresensors configured to determine whether the stateroom is occupied orunoccupied, and wherein the business rule causes the processor to allowimmediate access to the stateroom when the stateroom is unoccupied, andallow access to the stateroom after a predetermined time delay when thestateroom is occupied. In some embodiments, the business rule causes theprocessor to allow access to the stateroom only if two crew members aredetermined to be present.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause anaccess event record to be stored in the local data store or in theship-based data store in response to the facial recognition result; andcause an image or video of the person to be stored in the local datastore or in the ship-based data store in association with the accessevent record.

In another aspect, a stateroom access control system for a cruise shipcomprises a plurality of smart door devices according to the presenttechnology, each smart door device disposed within or proximate to adoor of a stateroom of the cruise ship; and a server in communicationwith the ship-based data store and the plurality of smart door devices.

In some embodiments, each smart door device further comprises atemperature sensor in communication with the processor, each processorconfigured to send a fire notification to the server when thetemperature sensor detects a temperature greater than a predeterminedfire alert threshold, and wherein the server is configured to determinea fire location based on fire notifications received from a plurality ofthe smart door devices.

In some embodiments, the processor of each smart door device is furtherconfigured to detect, based on one or more facial recognitionalgorithms, the presence of individual faces of people passing by thedoor of the stateroom within the public area; and store, in the localdata store, anonymized foot traffic records including an anonymous countcorresponding to each individual face. In some embodiments, theprocessor of at least one smart door device of the plurality of thesmart door devices is further configured to determine a direction oftravel associated with each individual face. In some embodiments, theprocessor of each smart door device is further configured to transmitthe anonymized foot traffic records to the server, and the server isconfigured to perform an aggregated foot traffic analysis based on theanonymized foot traffic records received from the smart door devices.

In some embodiments, at least one smart door device of the plurality ofthe smart door devices further comprises a door position sensorconfigured to send a notification to the processor when the door of therespective stateroom is open for longer than a threshold time, whereinthe processor of the at least one smart door device is furtherconfigured to transmit a security alert to the server in response to thenotification.

In some embodiments, each smart door device further comprises a thermalimaging sensor in communication with the processor, each processorconfigured to determine a body temperature of the person using thethermal imaging sensor in response to detecting the person.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosed aspects will hereinafter be described in conjunction withthe appended drawings and appendices, provided to illustrate and not tolimit the disclosed aspects, wherein like designations denote likeelements.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a networked computing system comprising aship-based computing system and a shore-based computing system inaccordance with the present technology.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of exemplary components of a computingresource participating in the networked computing system of FIG. 1 inaccordance with the present technology.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a ship-based computing system comprisinga networked system of computing resources, including one or more smartdoor devices, integrated within a vessel.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of exemplary components of a smart doordevice in accordance with the present technology.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate an example implementation of a smart doordevice in accordance with the present technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Customers aboard cruises or other voyages typically spend time inprivate or shared staterooms or other accommodations. For example, acustomer or a group of customers travelling together may be assigned toa stateroom in which they may sleep, eat, enjoy recreational activities,store their belongings, or otherwise make use of the stateroom space.Staterooms are typically access-controlled. For example, a customer maygain access to the customer's stateroom by providing an identitycredential such as an identification card, which may include an RFIDtag, chip, or magnetic strip, by biometric authentication such as facialrecognition, etc. Thus, each stateroom or other shipboard accommodationtypically includes an access control device configured to verify theidentity of a person trying to access the stateroom. An access controldevice may be configured to grant access, for example, to the customeror customers assigned to the stateroom, to other customers who haveotherwise been granted access privileges for the stateroom, and/or tocrew members of the ship who may need to access the stateroom such asfor cleaning, maintenance, deliveries, or other services. However,existing access control devices typically have limited functionality,and are configured only to read an identification card and control anelectronic door lock.

In some embodiments of the present technology, staterooms or otheraccommodations may be equipped with a smart door device capable ofperforming a variety of functions for the customer(s) assigned to thestateroom, for other customers, and/or for the crew or operators of theship. For example, in some embodiments, a smart door device isconfigured to perform functions including authentication of customersfor access control, security functions, personalization of stateroomamenities, live view or electronic peephole functionality, locationnotification, anonymized foot traffic analysis, interfacing with otherdoor hardware, and/or hospitality alerts, etc. The multifunctional smartdoor devices, services, and systems disclosed herein can thereby providean improved stateroom experience that enhances a customer's enjoyment ofa cruise or other hospitality interaction. In some embodiments, variousfunctions of the smart door device may utilize facial recognitiontechnology. Because the local processor of a stateroom smart door devicemay generate a facial recognition result based on only a small subset ofstored profile information for the customers associated with astateroom, rather than the profile information for all customers on theship, this local generation of facial recognition results may beperformed quickly and with relatively little processing power required.Additionally, the mart door devices described herein may provide accessto authorized crew members (e.g., for scheduled service, deliveries, ormaintenance), making it easier for requested services and deliveries tooccur while a guest is elsewhere enjoying the amenities of the shiprather than waiting for a crew member to arrive. Accordingly, the facialrecognition implementations described herein may be used throughout theduration of a cruise sailing or other event to improve customerexperiences by providing a multifunctional device that can enhance theenjoyment, comfort, and functionality of stateroom accommodations,improve customers' safety and security associated with their stateroomaccommodations, avoid the necessity of carrying a wearable or otheraccess credential while on a cruise, and provide anonymized data to acruise operator for further enhancement of safety and security of allpassengers and crew aboard

Advantageously, the smart door devices, services, and systems describedherein utilize unique aspects of computing systems integrated within aship or a cruise operator's fleet to enhance the reliability of facialrecognition systems. As will be described in greater detail, confidencelevel enhancement of facial recognition results based on associationwith additional data may advantageously allow the facial recognitionservices and systems described herein to more reliably achieve facialrecognition results with sufficient confidence levels to replace otherforms of identity credentialing. Moreover, the services and systems ofthe present technology may utilize additional available information,such as a known set of passengers, known or observed interpersonalconnections, known itineraries, ongoing data capture, or the like, tofurther improve confidence levels associated with detection events. Acruise event is uniquely suited to enhance the reliability of facialrecognition services and systems, as a cruise has a consistent set ofcustomers throughout the duration of the cruise, the set of customers islimited to the capacity of a cruise ship (e.g., between approximately1000 and 10000 customers), and customers embarking on a cruiseexperience are likely to expect and adhere to a requirement of having aphoto taken prior to beginning the cruise experience for initial datacapture.

Although embodiments of the smart door devices, services, and systemsdescribed herein are described in the context of providing access,goods, and/or services to customers of a cruise operator, it will beunderstood that the present technology is not limited to this class ofcustomer, this type of service provider, or the particular cruisecontext. As will be described in detail below, features of the presenttechnology can be employed in many other contexts, such as but notlimited to entertainment, hotel, and other hospitality services andsystems; banking and other financial services and systems; healthcareservices and systems; and health information technology (HIT) servicesand systems. The present technology can be implemented in any systemwhere it is desirable to implement network connected devices forenhanced functionality in access-controlled spaces.

Customers of facial recognition services and systems described hereincan be passengers on a cruise or similar voyage or transport, guests ata hotel or similar destination, or patrons at a retreat or similarevent. The operators of the cruise, hotel, and retreat services mayoffer a variety of items or experiences customers may purchase orparticipate in. In order to improve ease of customer access toaccommodations, selected activities, food, beverages, and the like, theoperators may use a computing and/or database system that includes asystem of touchpoints throughout the cruise, hotel, or retreat location.Touchpoints are configured to recognize individual customers based onfacial recognition data and/or historical information acquired about aplurality of customers, including the specific customer.

Exemplary Term Descriptions

To facilitate an understanding of the systems and methods discussedherein, a number of terms are described below. The terms describedbelow, as well as other terms used herein, should be construed toinclude the provided descriptions, the ordinary and customary meaning ofthe terms, and/or any other implied meaning for the respective terms.Thus, the descriptions below do not limit the meaning of these terms,but only provide exemplary definitions.

Data Store: Includes any computer readable storage medium and/or device(or collection of data storage mediums and/or devices) that stores data.Examples of data stores include, but are not limited to, optical disks(for example, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and so forth), magnetic disks (forexample, hard disks, floppy disks, and so forth), memory circuits (forexample, solid state drives, random-access memory (“RAM”), and soforth), and/or the like. Another example of a data store is a hostedstorage environment that includes a collection of physical data storagedevices that may be remotely accessible and may be rapidly provisionedas needed (commonly referred to as “cloud” storage). Any data store asdescribed herein may be or include a single storage medium and/ordevice, or may be distributed among a plurality of data storage mediumsand/or device located locally or remotely.

Customer: Depending on the context, “customer” may refer to a person,such as an individual, consumer, or user that interacts with servicesand systems described herein. A customer can include any entity thataccesses the services of a service provider, such as but not limited toa cruise ship passenger, a guest services attendant, a food and beverageattendant, a cashier, a maintenance technician, or the like. The terms“user,” “individual,” “consumer,” “guest,” “passenger,” and “customer”can be interpreted to include single persons, as well as groups ofusers, such as, for example, married couples or domestic partners,organizations, groups, and business entities. These terms may be usedinterchangeably. In some embodiments, the terms refer to a computingdevice of a user rather than, or in addition to, an actual humanoperator of the computing device.

Identifier: Depending on the context, “identifier” may refer to a dataitem uniquely identifying a customer, a crew member, a ship, a product,a location, a stateroom, an item, a touchpoint or other connecteddevice, or the like. In various embodiments, an identifier may comprisea set of alphanumeric characters stored, for example, in a data store.In one example, each customer may have a corresponding customer profilestored in a data store at a ship-based data center. The customer profilemay include an alphanumeric customer identifier stored in associationwith one or more other information items, such as a stateroomidentifier, identifiers of other known travel party members, identifiersof purchased products or itinerary items, etc. The term “identifier” asused herein may refer to a set of characters and/or one or more physicalbits of a non-transitory computer readable medium having the set ofcharacters stored thereon.

Facial recognition result: A facial recognition result encompassesinformation produced by a facial recognition system based on one or morecaptured images of a person. For example, a facial recognition resultmay include an identifier of an individual customer determined from theone or more captured images based on a collection of data associatedwith the customer and through application of a machine learning processcomparing that data with other data (e.g., data of a plurality of othercustomers). In some implementations, the facial recognition result mayinclude a result strength. The strength may indicate a confidence levelin the facial recognition result identified by a computing system. Forexample, the strength may include a numerical value (e.g., a valuebetween 0 and 1) indicative of a computing system's confidence level inthe accuracy of the facial recognition result. As such, the strength maybe included to allow systems receiving the recommendation to decide howmuch weight or credence to give the facial recognition result. As willbe described in greater detail, certain access-granting touchpoints mayrequire relatively higher confidence levels in facial recognitionresults as a condition of granting access. For example, the confidencelevel required to gain access can depends on individual requirements ofthe touchpoint locations.

Cruise operator: Depending on the context, “cruise operator” may referto a company or entity that owns or operates one or more cruise ships,and/or to any agent or group of agents thereof, or systems operatedthereby. For example, data provided to a cruise operator may includedata or notifications sent to one or more crew members, a group orsubdivision of crew members such as a maintenance crew, or a computersystem such operated by or in communication with the owner, operator, orcrew of the cruise ship.

Smart Door Devices, Services, and Systems of the Present Technology

Transit providers (for example, companies that provide and/or coordinatecruises, such as but not limited to cruise operators and travel planningservices) seek to provide additional benefits and value to prospectiveand existing passengers on the trips that they schedule, operate, and/orcoordinate. Often, providing such benefits and value may includeoffering comfortable, convenient, and/or luxurious stateroomaccommodations including ease of access, personalization features,delivery of services, and prompt maintenance, as well as a feeling ofsafety and security within the accommodation. Customer experiences intaking advantage of such accommodations, as well as in all aspects of acruise experience, may be enhanced by simplifying and/or streamliningcustomers' access to accommodations.

In some implementations of the present technology, smart door devices,services, and systems are configured to implement facial recognitiontechnology. Individual customers may have one or more photos taken at anembarkation device to develop facial recognition data including aninitial set of features for identification. Subsequent interactions withtouchpoints, cameras, and other devices during the cruise may yieldadditional image data which can be used to augment the initial facialrecognition data, such that the customers can be identified with agreater confidence level in future interactions with touchpoints. Insome cases, facial recognition data for a customer may be retained afterthe conclusion of a cruise and may be used as initial facial recognitiondata for the customer when the customer returns for a subsequent cruise.Thus, implementations of the facial recognition aspects described hereinare advantageously optimized for the entire customer lifecycle of thecruise experience—from initial data capture at embarkation, to apassenger that is currently engaged in the cruise experience inreal-time, to returning customers who have traveled on a previous cruiseof the cruise operator. Embodiments of facial recognition technologyprovided herein are provided to illustrate examples of these optimizedinteractions, and are not intended to limit the scope of the presenttechnology.

In some embodiments, smart door devices, services, and systems mayfurther take advantage of a data store including customer informationassociated with customers that are on board a particular cruise. Thedata store of customer information may be populated based, at least inpart, on information from a profile unique to each customer,corresponding travel information for each customer and/or additionalcustomers known to be traveling with each customer, historical productselection/purchase information for each customer, and/or social mediadata of each customer. In some embodiments, the corresponding travelinformation and the historical product information are stored inassociation with the unique customer profile. The customer profile canstore any suitable information specific to the customer, including butnot limited to loyalty tier, loyalty preference, and certain types ofdemographic information. The profile can be stored in the data store ofhistorical customer information. Further details of exampleimplementations of smart door devices, services, and systems and methodsof the present technology are provided below.

Example Smart Door Computing Systems in Accordance with the PresentTechnology

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of an example networked computing system100 within which the smart door devices, services, and systems describedherein may be implemented. The system 100 includes a ship-basedcomputing system 102 which may be in communication with a shore-basedcomputing system 104 via a cloud-based or wireless network 110,according to this exemplary embodiment. In some embodiments, theship-based computing system 102 is located on a ship 101 (or other masstransport, such as a train, a shuttle, a bus, a plane, and so forth)configured to transport a plurality of individuals or customers(“customers”) during a trip or voyage (“sailing”). The ship-basedcomputing system 102 may include any number of individual independentand/or networked computing devices located within the ship 101. Forexample, some or all staterooms within the ship may each be equippedwith a smart door device that forms a portion of the ship-basedcomputing system 102. The shore-based computing system 104 is located ina shore-based facility 103 and is associated with a service provider,such as a company or entity that operates the ship 101. Alternatively,or additionally, the shore-based computing system 104 may include acloud-based database or data store 108 with which the ship-basedcomputer system 102 communicates at least periodically while in port orat sea. Alternatively or in addition, the shore-based computing system104 may include a cloud-based computing system with which the ship-basedcomputer system 102 communicates at least periodically.

The system 100 may also include a plurality of user computing devices106 that are operated by customers of the service provider. The usercomputing devices 106 may include any one of a smartphone, a tablet, alaptop, a desktop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a vehiclecommunication system, a smartwatch, or any other electronic device. Theuser computing device 106 allows a user 105 (for example, the customer,as described above) to request products such as experiences, items,activities, entertainment and dining options, and events (collectivelyreferred to herein as “products”) before or while the customer 105 isembarked on the ship 101 during a sailing. In some embodiments,communications between the ship-based computing system 102 and theshore-based computing system 104 are used to provide information to theship-based computing system 102 regarding facial recognition profiles,as well as customer information that may be stored at the shore-basedcomputing system 104 and/or the data store 108. Any suitablecommunications arrangement can be implemented in embodiments of thepresent technology.

In some embodiments, the ship 101 transports the plurality of customersover a period of time (for example, for a duration of the sailing). Atvarious times prior to and during the sailing, the customers on the ship101 review various products offered onboard the ship as well as duringport visits, and potentially book, reserve, purchase, or add one or moreproducts to the customer's cruise itinerary. As described above, suchproducts can include items, admission to an event or an experience suchas a performance or shore excursions, entertainment options, specialtydining packages, and menu items, just to name a few. Shipboard eventsand experiences can include, for example, spa services, classes,childcare services, live performances, movie showings, organized sportsactivities and contests, dining experiences, activities with limitedtime slots and/or specific restrictions (such as wakeboarding, bungeejumping, rock climbing, etc.). It will be understood that shipboardevents and experiences also include events for which no reservation orbooking is required for a customer to participate, for example welcomeparties, informational presentations for port calls, and walk-in diningexperiences.

Items can include, for example, retail items sold in the ship's store,items sold during performances, items sold by the service providerashore during port visits, or any other item a customer may evaluate andpurchase during the customer's cruise lifecycle. It will be understoodthat items can include intangible items, such as trip insurance, digitalphotos, reservations for a future sailing, etc.

Some products are offered and/or available for purchase or reservationat any time by the customer using, for example, a user computing device106, while some products are offered and/or available for purchase orreservation at selected times and dates. Some products are available inunlimited, or virtually unlimited quantities, while some products areavailable in limited quantities. Any of the products offered and/oravailable may require a check-in or other identification of the customerat the time of attending the experience, receiving the item, etc.

The shore-based computing system 104 and/or the ship-based computingsystem 102 can also store data relating to each customer that isembarked on or is scheduled to embark on a particular sailing offered bythe cruise operator. Customer data can include, but is not limited to,demographic information of the customer; historical information onreservations, purchases, and bookings by the customer on a previoussailing; information on products purchased, booked, or reserve by thecustomer for an upcoming sailing; and information on other passengersthat are associated with the customer on a prior or upcoming sailing. Itwill be understood that such examples are not intended to be limiting,and any suitable information that can enhance recommendation servicesand systems described herein can be implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of exemplary components of acomputing resource 200 participating in the networked computing system100 of FIG. 1, according to an exemplary embodiment. The computingresource 200 may be used by, with, or as a component of, for example,one or more of the user computing devices 106 or the ship-basedcomputing system 102. For example, the computing resource 200 mayinclude, may be in communication with, and/or may be integrated within adevice such as a stateroom smart door device, an embarkation device, amobile touchpoint or crew device, and/or a standalone monitoring devicelocated on or within the ship. The computing devices and systemsinclude, for example, a computing device or system that is IBM,Macintosh, or Linux/Unix compatible or a terminal or workstation. In oneembodiment, the computing system 200 includes one or more centralprocessing units (“CPUs”) 205, which may each include a conventional orproprietary microprocessor. In some embodiments, the CPU 205 may performvarious computations, associations, etc., of data stored in a datastore. Accordingly, the CPU 205 may enable the computing resource 200 toprocess information in a data store and generate information fortransmission to and between other devices.

The computing resource 200 further includes one or more memory 232, suchas random access memory (“RAM”) for temporary storage of information,one or more read only memory (“ROM”) for permanent storage ofinformation, and one or more mass storage device 222, such as a harddrive, diskette, solid state drive, or optical media storage device.Typically, the components of the computing resource 200 are connectedusing a standard based bus system 290. In different embodiments, thestandard based bus system 290 could be implemented in PeripheralComponent Interconnect (“PCI”), Microchannel, Small Computer SystemInterface (“SCSI”), Industrial Standard Architecture (“ISA”), ExtendedISA (“EISA”), and networked architectures, for example. In addition, thefunctionality provided in the components and modules of computingresource 200 may be combined into fewer components and modules orfurther separated into additional components and modules than as shownin FIG. 2.

The computing resource 200 is generally controlled and coordinated byoperating system software, such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7,Windows 8, Windows Server, Unix, Linux, SunOS, Solaris, iOS, BlackberryOS, or other compatible operating systems. In Macintosh systems, theoperating system may be any available operating system, such as MAC OSX. In other embodiments, the computing resource 200 may be controlled bya proprietary operating system. Conventional operating systems controland schedule computer processes for execution, perform memorymanagement, provide file system, networking, I/O services, and provide auser interface, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), among otherthings.

The exemplary computing resource 200 may include one or more commonlyavailable input/output (I/O) devices and interfaces 212, such as akeyboard, mouse, touchpad, and printer. In one embodiment, the I/Odevices and interfaces 212 include one or more display devices, such asa monitor, that allows the visual presentation of data to a user. Moreparticularly, a display device provides for the presentation of the userinterface or GUI, application software data, and multimediapresentations, for example. The computing resource 200 may also includeone or more multimedia devices 242, such as speakers, video cards,graphics accelerators, and microphones, for example.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the I/O devices and interfaces 212 providea communication interface to various external devices. The computingresource 200 is electronically coupled to one or more networks, forexample one or more of a LAN, WAN, and/or the Internet, via a wired,wireless, or combination of wired and wireless, communication linksprovided by one or more networking devices 214. For example, thecomputing resource 200 in this implementation may be electronicallycoupled to the network 110 and/or to an internal network of theship-based computing system 102 of FIG. 1 via a wired or wirelessconnection using the networking devices 214. Other implementations arepossible. Using the networking devices 214, the computing system 200 maycommunicate over networks with various computing devices and/or otherelectronic devices via wired or wireless communication links. In someembodiments, the networking devices 214 allow one computing system (forexample, the ship-based computing system 102) to communicate withanother computing system (for example, the shore-based computing system104). Additionally, or alternatively, the networking devices 214 mayallow the computing systems 102 and/or 104 to communicate with the usercomputing devices 106.

In some embodiments, the I/O devices and interfaces 212 may generate orprovide the user interface (UI). The UI may allow for customers of theuser computing devices 106 to browse, select, schedule, reserve, andpurchase products. In some embodiments, the UI allows the customers toupdate customer information, for example profile information, profilepreferences, interests, and so forth. In some embodiments, the UI allowsfor operators of the ship-based computing system 102 (e.g., crew membersor other agents of the ship operator) to perform functions such asreviewing stored customer information, providing items or services basedon facial recognition results, or identifying customers on the ship.

Embodiments of the computing resource 200 include various modules thatwill be described with reference to non-limiting examples. It will beunderstood that implementations of the facial recognition services andsystems described herein are not limited to computing systems that onlyinclude these exemplary modules. In general, a “module” refers to logicembodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of softwareinstructions, possibly having entry and exit points, written in aprogramming language, such as, for example, Java, Lua, C or C++. Asoftware module may be compiled and linked into an executable program,installed in a dynamic link library, or may be written in an interpretedprogramming language such as, for example, BASIC, Perl, or Python. Itwill be appreciated that software modules may be callable from othermodules or from themselves, and/or may be invoked in response todetected events or interrupts. Software modules configured for executionon computing devices may be provided on a computer readable medium, suchas a compact disc, digital video disc, flash drive, or any othertangible medium. Such software code may be stored, partially or fully,on a memory device of the executing computing device, such as the usercomputing devices 106, the ship-based computing system 102, and theshore-based computing system 104, for execution by the computingresource 200. Software instructions may be embedded in firmware, such asan EPROM. It will be further appreciated that hardware modules may becomprised of connected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and/ormay be comprised of programmable units, such as programmable gate arraysor processors. The modules described herein are preferably implementedas software modules, but may be represented in hardware or firmware, ora combination thereof. Generally, the modules described herein refer tological modules that may be combined with other modules or divided intosub-modules despite their physical organization or storage.

In various example embodiments of FIG. 2, for example, in which thecomputing resource 200 is a smart door device or a user computingdevice, or operates a ship-based touchpoint or monitoring device, animage capture device 208 is in communication with the central processingunit 205. The image capture device 208 is configured to capture imagesof one or more people in the vicinity of the computing resource 200. Insome embodiments, the captured images may be sent to another device suchas a central server or data center of the ship-based computing system102 for analysis to determine a facial recognition result, or thecaptured images may be analyzed locally at the computing resource 200.The image capture device 208 may be configured to capture imagescontinually on a periodic basis, and/or may be configured to captureimages on an event-based basis, such as at a predetermined time, basedon a user request to capture one or more images, based on motiondetection, and/or based on an input received from another device withinthe ship-based computing system 102.

In further example embodiments of FIG. 2 in which the computing resource200 operates a ship-based touchpoint, a hardware controller 210 may bein communication with the CPU 205 to cause actuation of a physicaldevice such as an access point or a barrier, based on a facialrecognition result. For example, if the computing resource 200 is atouchpoint integrated with a stateroom door, the hardware controller 210may cause a lock of the stateroom door to unlock based on a facialrecognition result indicating that a person at the door is authorized toenter. In other examples, the hardware controller 210 may actuate amovable barrier such as a turnstile in an access-controlled environment,may cause an automated dispensing or vending device to release an itemto a customer, etc.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a ship-based computing system 300 suchas ship-based computing system 102 of FIG. 1, including a networkedsystem of computing resources integrated within a ship, according to anexemplary embodiment. The ship-based computing system 300 includes adata center 302, including a server 304 and a data store 306, as well asvarious touchpoints and connected devices located throughout the ship.Example touchpoints and other connected devices can include, but are notnecessarily limited to, embarkation/disembarkation devices 308, smartdoor devices 310 such as those installed in staterooms, monitoringdevices 312, crew devices 314, user devices 316, and product touchpoints318. Smart door devices 310 can be installed in various types of doorsin addition to guest stateroom doors, such as crew cabin doors, doors tocrew-only facilities, and doors to maintenance, propulsion, medical,navigation, or any other facility where access is to be restricted tosome degree. Further, although not illustrated in FIG. 3, it will beunderstood that the components of the ship-based computing system 300described with reference to FIG. 3 are scalable and can be replicated oneach ship in the cruise operator's fleet of ships. Thus, although thenetworked system 300 is explained below with reference to a single ship,the networked system 300 can include multiple ship-based computingsystems 300 deployed across a fleet of ships, each communicating with ashore-based computing system 104 as shown in FIG. 1.

The data center 302 can include one or more computing devices, includingat least a server 304 and a data store 306. The server 304 is configuredto communicate via wired and/or wireless communications with any of thetouchpoints and connected devices in the networked system 300. Theserver 304 and/or one or more other computing devices of the data center302 are configured to perform various processing, analysis, and facialrecognition operations as described herein. The data store 306 storescustomer information for individual customers such as facial recognitiondata, travel party information, itinerary information, user stateroompreferences, tracking information, interaction information, and/orlinked device information. The data store 306 may further store otherinformation such as services or crew access scheduled for individualstaterooms, hospitality alert information, traffic analysis results, orany other data for or generated by the various networked devicesdescribed herein.

Facial recognition data stored in the data store 306 may includeinformation specific to each customer, such as image data correspondingto known images of the customer, landmarks, features, or other geometricinformation associated with the customer's facial appearance, and/or anyother information usable by facial recognition algorithms to recognizethe customer from subsequently captured images of the customer.Accordingly, it will be understood that the facial recognitionimplementations described herein need not necessarily rely on storedimages of customers.

Travel party information may include information identifying, for anindividual customer, other customers known to be associated with thecustomer. Travel party information may include identifiers correspondingto the other customers of a group reservation, and/or may includeidentifiers corresponding to travel party members indicated by thecustomer or a member of the customer's travel party.

Itinerary information may include details of all products on thecustomers' itineraries for customers on the sailing of the ship. Detailsof products in customers' itineraries can include any applicableparameter, depending on the nature of the particular product that thecustomer reserved, booked, or purchased. For example, the itineraryinformation can include one or more of a name of a product, a locationof a product, a start time of a product, an end time of a product, and aduration of a product.

User stateroom preferences may include, for example, room accesspreferences, HVAC or climate control preferences, service or deliveryrequests, stateroom lighting preferences, in-room media preferences, orthe like. User stateroom preferences may be stored for an individualuser or stateroom, and may include one or more default settings, one ormore user-selected settings, or a combination of default settings anduser-selected settings.

Tracking information may include historical data regarding previousknown locations of a customer. In one implementation, trackinginformation includes a list of timestamped locations where thecustomer's location was verified during the cruise. Tracking informationmay be received from, or determined based on, data received at the datacenter 302 from touchpoints or connected devices throughout the shipwith which the customer has interacted. Interaction information mayinclude further information regarding such interactions with touchpointsor connected devices.

Linked device information may include information identifying userdevices 316, and information linking individual user devices 316 toindividual customers or groups of customers. For example, a mobiledevice such as a tablet computer or cell phone belonging to a customermay be identified by an identifier in the linked device information andassociated with a customer identifier. In some embodiments, linkeddevice information for each device is obtained when a customer aboardthe ship connects a user device 316 to an onboard wireless network. Thecustomer may be prompted to enter identifying information in order tosign onto the wireless network, thus providing to the data center 302the necessary information to associate the linked user device 316 andthe customer.

Embarkation/disembarkation devices 308 may be computing devicesconsistent with the computing resource 200 of FIG. 2.Embarkation/disembarkation devices 308 may be located at locations wherecustomers embark or disembark from the ship and configured to interactwith customers as they embark or disembark. In some embodiments,embarkation/disembarkation devices 308 may be located in an area near anembarkation/disembarkation point of the ship, such as in a cruiseterminal, on a pier, and/or in any facility that processes or interactswith customers as they embark or disembark from the ship. In someembodiments, separate embarkation devices and disembarkation devices maybe provided, or may be combined in a single embarkation/disembarkationdevice.

The embarkation/disembarkation devices 308 may be used for initial datacapture for a customer as the customer embarks for the first time. Thus,the image capture device 208 may be configured to obtain one or morerelatively high-quality images of the customer's face to providesufficient data for subsequent facial recognition events. Accordingly,the image capture device 208 of an embarkation/disembarkation device 308may include a still or video camera located at approximately face levelto obtain a centered (e.g., passport-style) photograph of each customer.In some embodiments, the height of the image capture device 208 may beadjustable to obtain images of sufficient quality of customers ofvarious heights. Multiple cameras may be included, for example, tosimultaneously capture front and side views of a customer's face.

The I/O interfaces and devices 212 of each embarkation/disembarkationdevice 308 may include an input such as a graphical user interface orthe like, to permit manual operation by a device operator. For example,an operator may instruct each arriving customer to stand and look intothe image capture device 208. The operator may then use the userinterface to cause the image capture device 208 to take one or morephotos of the customer before the customer proceeds. Theembarkation/disembarkation device 308 can transfer the one or morephotos to the data center 302, where they may be stored in associationwith a customer profile or other data structure in the data store 306.In some embodiments, the customer profile may further be updated toindicate an “onboard” status of the customer.

Embarkation/disembarkation devices 308 may further be configured fordisembarkation operations, for example, to identify individual customersas they disembark. In some embodiments, embarkation/disembarkationdevices 308 may also be used to identify customers temporarily leavingor returning to a ship at an intermediate port of call. For example,when a ship arrives at a port such as an intermediate port of call on acruise, embarkation/disembarkation devices 308 may be located at eachexit point such that each customer leaving the ship temporarily at theport passes through an embarkation/disembarkation device 308. In otherembodiments, other devices such as crew devices 314 may be used tomonitor customers temporarily leaving and returning to the ship atintermediate ports of call. The image capture device 208 may include astill or video camera configured to capture images on a continuing basisas customers disembark. Facial recognition algorithms at the server 304and/or at each embarkation/disembarkation device 308 can analyze thecaptured images to identify each customer leaving the ship. A temporaryexit event may be recorded and stored in association with the customerand a timestamp in the data store 306. When each customer returns to theship, the customer can be photographed and identified at the same or adifferent embarkation/disembarkation device 308 or crew device 314, andthe customer's return may be recorded in the customer profile at thedata store 306. Accordingly, the present technology may allow thecomputing system 300 to reliably determine whether all customers havereturned to the ship prior to leaving a port, and to further identifywhich individual customers may still be ashore if less than allpassengers have returned. When used at a time of disembarkation, thepresent technology may further allow the computing system 300 toreliably determine whether all customers have disembarked prior toallowing passengers for a subsequent sailing to embark.

Smart door devices 310 may be computing devices consistent with thecomputing resource 200 of FIG. 2. Further details of computing resourcesadapted to serve as smart door devices 310 will be described withreference to FIGS. 4-5B. The smart door devices 310 may be located atstateroom entrances (e.g., on or within a door and/or a wall adjacent toor near a door) and may be configured to control access to individualstaterooms aboard the ship based on facial recognition, other biometricauthentication, and/or based on a mechanical or wireless credential. Ahardware controller 210 of a smart door device 310 may be configured toactuate a door lock (such as but not limited to an electronic door lock)to prevent or provide access to the associated stateroom. The imagecapture device 208 of the smart door device 310 can include anoutward-facing camera configured to capture an image of the face of aperson requesting access to the stateroom and/or to provide a live viewto a user within the stateroom. Presence of a person within a particulardistance of the stateroom camera and/or within a particular volume orspace surrounding the stateroom camera may be deemed a request to accessthe stateroom. In another example, a person actuating or pressing abutton or other input device at the stateroom camera location may bedeemed a request to access the stateroom. Other implementations ofaccess requests are possible, such as inserting a mechanical key into alock, placing an electronic credential such as a radio frequencyidentification (RFID) or near field communication (NFC) device inproximity to a corresponding reader within the stateroom smart doordevice 310.

Upon capturing an image of a person attempting to gain access to thestateroom, the stateroom smart door device 310 may transmit the image tothe data center 302 via networking device 214. At the data center 302,the image may be analyzed using a facial recognition algorithm toidentify the person as a particular customer. If a customer identity isverified, the data center 302 may further determine whether theidentified customer has access privileges for the stateroom associatedwith the smart door device 310. For example, the stateroom smart doordevice 310 may query the data store 306 to determine if an identifier ofthe particular stateroom is stored in association with a customerprofile of the particular identified customer, which may indicate thatthe customer has access privileges for the stateroom. If the identifiedcustomer does have access privileges for the stateroom, the accessrequest is granted. As will be described in detail below, in some cases,access is granted only if the identification of the customer is based ona facial recognition result having a confidence level greater than apredetermined threshold confidence level. For example, the server 304may send a control message to the smart door device 310 that causes thehardware controller 210 to unlock the stateroom door. Accordingly, thepresent technology may allow customers or others to access stateroomsusing a facial identification, rather than requiring customers to carrya physical identity credential (for example, a key card or wearabledevice) each time they leave their staterooms.

In some embodiments, a smart door device 310 and/or a stateroom accesscontrol system including a smart door device may use local processing ora combination of remote and local processing to control access to astateroom. For example, the stateroom door may be lockable andunlockable by an electronic door lock. The electronic door lock may beconfigured to unlock based on receiving a digital key. The electronicdoor lock may further be configured to communicate with a databasestoring the digital keys for the electronic door locks of the ship. Whena stateroom door is to be unlocked, the smart door device 310 and/or acomputing device of the data center 302 may cause the correspondingdigital key to be transmitted from the database to the electronic locksuch that the electronic lock unlocks the stateroom door upon receipt ofthe digital key. Suitable electronic door locks are made, for example,by ASSA ABLOY®.

The smart door device 310 and/or stateroom access control system mayfurther include a local data store in which customer profile informationcan be stored. For example, the local data store may store the customerprofiles, or portions of the customer profiles (e.g., only the facialrecognition data required to generate facial recognition results) ofthose customers associated with and permitted to access the stateroom.The data store may further store information associated with crewmembers permitted to access the stateroom such as, for example,maintenance technicians, cleaning staff, product or service deliverypersonnel, or others permitted to enter the stateroom generally orwithin a predetermined time window. The customer profile information inthe local data store may be received from the data center 302 at thebeginning of a sailing, and/or may be updated later on an event-based orperiodic basis if changes are made to the set of customers grantedaccess to the stateroom. For example, one or more customers may be addedor removed from the set of customers to be allowed to access thestateroom, and the data center 302 may cause customer profileinformation to be added to or removed from the local data store toreflect the changes. A crew member permitted to access the stateroom maybe added to the set of customers allowed to access the stateroom at thebeginning of a predetermined time window (e.g., a time window duringwhich maintenance or another service is scheduled), and may be removedfrom the set at the end of the time window.

In operation, the stateroom smart door device 310 may include a wideangle camera (e.g., with a 180 degree field of view) positioned to imagethe surrounding public area, such as a hallway or passageway outside thestateroom. It will be understood, however, that other suitable camerascan be implemented. When a person is located within the imaged area, thecamera creates an image of the face of the person and sends the image tothe processor of the stateroom smart door device 310. Responsive toreceiving the image, the processor of the stateroom smart door device310 can generate a facial recognition result using the same or similarfacial recognition algorithms to those used at the data center 302 forremote generation of facial recognition results. If the facialrecognition result indicates that the imaged person is a customerallowed to access the stateroom, the local processor may thencommunicate with the data center 302 and/or the digital key database tocause the appropriate digital key to be sent from the digital keydatabase to the electronic lock to unlock the stateroom door.

Advantageously, because the local processor of the stateroom smart doordevice 310 is generating a facial recognition result based on only thesmall subset of stored profile information for the customers associatedwith the stateroom, rather than the profile information for allcustomers on the ship, this local generation of facial recognitionresults may be performed quickly and with relatively little processingpower required. The stateroom smart door device 310 and/or accesscontrol system may further include a local power supply configured tosupply electrical power in the absence of ship power (e.g., if aship-based power supply is interrupted locally or across the entireship). Thus, the combination of a local power supply, local data store,and local processor may permit customers to have uninterrupted access totheir staterooms in the event of the loss of ship power, loss of networkconnectivity, or other system failures that might otherwise inhibitoperation of the ship-based facial recognition systems and methods.

Monitoring devices 312 may be computing devices consistent with thecomputing resource 200 of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, monitoringdevices 312 may be passive detection devices configured to identifycustomers traveling throughout the ship, but not configured to interactphysically with the customers. In one example, monitoring devices 312include connected observation or CCTV cameras located in public areas ofthe ship, such as corridors, decks, activity areas, dining areas, bars,or the like. Monitoring devices 312 may have image capture devices 208including cameras configured to capture video or periodic still imagesof an area on or within the ship. Obtained video or still images may beanalyzed at the CPU 205 of the monitoring device and/or at the datacenter 302 to identify portions of the images corresponding to faces,and to identify customers based on the identified faces in the images.When a customer is positively identified, a location (e.g.,corresponding to the location of the monitoring device 312) and atimestamp (e.g., a timestamp received from the monitoring device 312with the image) may be stored in the data store 306 as a trackinginformation item in the customer's profile.

Crew devices 314 may be computing devices consistent with the computingresource 200 of FIG. 2. Crew devices 314 are stationary or mobiledevices configured to be operated by ship crew members or otheremployees or operators working on the ship. For example, a bartender ina bar aboard the ship may use a crew device 314 as or in conjunctionwith a point of sale terminal. The crew device 314 may be able toidentify a customer ordering a drink, and indicate to the bartenderwhether the customer is old enough to order an alcoholic beverage,whether the customer has purchased a beverage package, whether to incuran a la carte charge for the beverage, etc. (e.g., the indication maycomprise displaying a message to the bartender at an output device suchas multimedia device 242). Accordingly, the image capture device 208 ofthe crew device 314 may be an outward-facing camera configured tocapture a still image of a customer based on an input from the user ofthe crew device 314. The captured image is sent via the networkingdevice 214 to the data center 302, where the customer can be identifiedusing implementations of facial recognition services and systemsdescribed herein. In the non-limiting example of a crew device 314 in abar, the data center 302 may determine whether the customer haspurchased an entitlement such as a beverage package based on informationin the customer profile in the data store 306. Based on thedetermination, the crew device 314 provides an instruction to thebartender using a multimedia device 242 such as a display. In anothernon-limiting example, a crew device 314 is a camera used by an onboardphotographer to photograph customers or groups of customers (e.g., toprovide souvenir photos). The data center 302 may determine the identityof one or more customers that were photographed, and may further causethe photograph to be stored at the data store 306 in association withthe customer profiles corresponding to the identified customers. Somecrew devices 314 may include or be in communication with other devicesused by crew members, such as mobile devices, augmented reality devices,or other portable devices carried by crew members. Further applicationsof crew devices are described in greater detail below.

User devices 316 may be computing devices consistent with the computingresource 200 of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, user devices 316 may becustomer-owned devices brought on board by the customers, such aspersonal cell phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, or the like.User devices 316 may include networking devices 214 through which theuser devices 316 may connect to a ship-based network, such as a wirelessnetwork. Upon connecting a user device 316 to the wireless network forthe first time, a user (e.g., a customer) may be prompted to entercustomer identifying information such that a device identifier of theuser device 316 can be stored in the data store 306 in association withone or more customer profiles. Advantageously, customers may have photostaken and saved for them without having to present an identitycredential, and may increase the accuracy and reliability, and decreasewait times, associated with photography events. In further examples, thephotographed customers may subsequently be offered photo products orservices based on the photographs linked to the customers' profilesusing facial recognition services and systems of the present technology.The user devices 316 may further include applications executing thereonthat provide for customer interaction with the data center 302. Forexample, an application provided by or associated with the operator ofthe ship may include a graphical user interface allowing the user toperform interactions such as ordering food or beverages, purchasingproducts, modifying itineraries, and the like.

Product touchpoints 318 may be computing devices consistent with thecomputing resource 200 of FIG. 2. Similar to crew devices 314, producttouchpoints 318 may be stationary or mobile devices operable by crewmembers. Product touchpoints 318 may be located at sites where items canbe purchased and/or at the locations of experiential products such asdining options, entertainment events, activities, and the like. In someembodiments, a product touchpoint 318 may include image capture devices208 including a still and/or video camera. Accordingly, customersentering experiential products or purchasing items may be positivelyidentified to record attendance or purchases, without requiring thecustomers to carry physical identity credentials.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of exemplary components of a smartdoor device 310 participating in the ship-based computing system 300 ofFIG. 3, according to an exemplary embodiment. The smart door device 310may be, for example, a particular implementation of the computingresource 200 of FIG. 2. The smart door device 310 may include, forexample, a computing device or system that is IBM, Macintosh, orLinux/Unix compatible or a terminal or workstation. In some embodiments,the smart door device 310 may be an Internet of things (IoT) device. Inone embodiment, the smart door device 310 includes one or more centralprocessing units (“CPUs”) 405, which may each include a conventional orproprietary microprocessor. In some embodiments, the CPU 405 may performvarious computations, associations, etc., of data stored in a datastore. Accordingly, the CPU 405 may enable the smart door device 310 toprocess information in a data store and generate information fortransmission to and between other devices.

The smart door device 310 further includes one or more memory 432, suchas random access memory (“RAM”) for temporary storage of information,one or more read only memory (“ROM”) for permanent storage ofinformation, and one or more mass storage device 422, such as a harddrive, diskette, solid state drive, or optical media storage device.Typically, the components of the smart door device 310 are connectedusing a standard based bus system 490. In different embodiments, thestandard based bus system 490 could be implemented in PeripheralComponent Interconnect (“PCI”), Microchannel, Small Computer SystemInterface (“SCSI”), Industrial Standard Architecture (“ISA”), ExtendedISA (“EISA”), and networked architectures, for example. In addition, thefunctionality provided in the components and modules of smart doordevice 310 may be combined into fewer components and modules or furtherseparated into additional components and modules than as shown in FIG.4.

The smart door device 310 is generally controlled and coordinated byoperating system software, such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7,Windows 8, Windows Server, Unix, Linux, SunOS, Solaris, iOS, BlackberryOS, or other compatible operating systems. In Macintosh systems, theoperating system may be any available operating system, such as MAC OSX. In other embodiments, the smart door device 310 may be controlled bya proprietary operating system. Conventional operating systems controland schedule computer processes for execution, perform memorymanagement, provide file system, networking, I/O services, and provide auser interface, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), among otherthings.

The exemplary smart door device 310 may include input/output (I/O)devices and interfaces 412 which may include one or more displaydevices, such as a monitor, that allows the visual presentation of datato a user. More particularly, a display device provides for thepresentation of the user interface or GUI, application software data,and multimedia presentations, for example. In some embodiments, the oneor more display devices may include a touchscreen monitor configured todisplay visual content and receive input from a user. In someembodiments, the I/O devices and interfaces may further include commonlyavailable input or output devices such as a keyboard, mouse, touchpad,and printer. The smart door device 310 may also include one or moremultimedia devices 442, such as speakers, video cards, graphicsaccelerators, and microphones, for example.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the I/O devices and interfaces 412 providea communication interface to various external devices. The smart doordevice 310 may be electronically coupled to one or more networks, forexample, one or more of a LAN, WAN, and/or the Internet, via a wired,wireless, or combination of wired and wireless, communication linksprovided by one or more networking devices 414. For example, the smartdoor device 310 in this implementation may be electronically coupled tothe network 110 and/or to an internal network of the ship-basedcomputing system 102 of FIG. 1 via a wired or wireless connection usingthe networking devices 414. Other implementations are possible. Usingthe networking devices 414, the smart door device 310 may communicateover networks with various computing devices and/or other electronicdevices via wired or wireless communication links. Additionally, oralternatively, the networking devices 414 may allow the smart doordevice 310 to communicate with one or more of the user computing devices316.

In some embodiments, the I/O devices and interfaces 412 may generate orprovide the user interface (UI). The UI may allow for customers of theuser computing devices 316 to interact with various functionalities ofthe smart door device 310, such as locking or unlocking a stateroomdoor, viewing a live electronic peephole feed, viewing or receivinghospitality alerts or notifications, and the like. In some embodiments,the UI allows the customers to update customer information, for exampleprofile information, profile preferences, interests, and so forth. Insome embodiments, the UI allows for operators of the ship-basedcomputing system 102 (e.g., crew members or other agents of the shipoperator) to perform functions such as reviewing stored customerinformation, providing items or services based on facial recognitionresults, or identifying customers on the ship.

The smart door device 310 may further include a door lock controller 410configured to interface with an electronic lock, a key database, orother component to cause locking and/or unlocking of an electronic lockon the door of the stateroom where the smart door device 310 isinstalled, as described elsewhere herein.

An outward facing camera 416, as described elsewhere herein, may beincluded within the smart door device 310 and positioned so as to imagean area outside the stateroom door. For example, the outward facingcamera 416 may be a wide angle camera having a relatively large field ofview (e.g., up to 180 degrees) such that any person or object in thevicinity of the stateroom door can be imaged. The outward facing camera416 may be configured to capture still images and/or video of its fieldof view. Images and/or video captured by the outward facing camera 416may be sent to the mass storage device 422 and/or any other remotedevices such as user devices 316 corresponding to customers associatedwith the stateroom and/or other components of the ship-based computingsystem 300 such as the data center 302. Images and/or video captured bythe outward facing camera 416 may be stored locally in the mass storagedevice 422 and/or remotely, such as in the data store 306 of theship-based computing system 300.

A credential receiver 418 may be disposed at an outward-facing portionof the smart door device 310 to receive one or more physical credentialsfor access control, in addition to or as an alternative to facialrecognition-based access control. Example types of credentials that canbe detected and/or received at the credential receiver 418 may include,for example, a radio frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth LowEnergy (BLE), or near field communication (NFC) device contained withina wearable, a proximity card, a badge, or other proximity device, aphysical key, an access card or key card containing a magnetic stripe orchip, a fingerprint, a retinal scan, or the like. The credentialreceiver 418 may accordingly include one or more physical componentssuch as an RFID, BLE, or NFC reader, a pin tumbler locker, a magneticstripe or chip reader, a fingerprint scanner, a retinal scanner, and/orother components as appropriate. The credential receiver 418 isconfigured to cause the door lock controller 410 to unlock the stateroomdoor upon receiving a valid credential. In some embodiments, thecredential receiver 418 is configured to query one or more data storessuch as the mass storage device 422 and/or the data store 306 of theship-based computing system 300, to determine if a received credentialcorresponds to a person authorized to enter the stateroom. For example,those authorized to enter may include passengers associated with thestateroom, crew members authorized to access the stateroom for delivery,maintenance, cleaning, or other services, and the like.

One or more additional sensors 420 may further be included within thesmart door device 310. The one or more additional sensors 420 mayinclude, for example, a proximity sensor, a microphone, a temperaturesensor, a humidity sensor, a near-infrared imaging sensor, or the like.

FIGS. 5A and 5B depict an example implementation of a smart door device500 installed in a stateroom door 505. FIG. 5A shows an exterior view ofthe stateroom door 505 (e.g., as viewed from a corridor outside thestateroom), including an outward-facing component 510 of the smart doordevice 500. FIG. 5B shows an interior view of the stateroom door 505(e.g., as viewed from within the stateroom), including an inward-facingcomponent 530 of the smart door device 500. The outward-facing component510 and the inward-facing component 530 may each comprise a housingand/or may comprise portions of a single housing. In some embodiments,the smart door device 500 is an example implementation of the smart doordevice 310 of FIG. 4. Although the outward-facing component 510 and theinward-facing component 530 of the smart door device 500 are illustratedin FIGS. 5A and 5B as opposing sides of a unitary device embedded withinthe stateroom door 505, it will be understood that the outward-facingcomponent 510 and the inward-facing component 530 may have a variety ofother configurations without departing from the spirit or scope of thepresent disclosure. For example, the outward-facing component 510 andthe inward-facing component 530 may be separate components installed onopposing sides of the stateroom door 505, or either or both of theoutward-facing component 510 and the inward-facing component 530 may beinstalled on a wall near the stateroom door 505 rather than within thestateroom door 505 itself. In some embodiments the inward-facingcomponent 530 may be installed anywhere within the stateroom and/or maybe a mobile device within the stateroom in wireless communication withthe outward-facing component 510. Moreover, some or all of thefunctionality of the inward-facing component 530 may be embodied in anapplication executed on a personal computing device of an occupant ofthe stateroom, instead of or in addition to an inward-facing component530 physically installed within the stateroom.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the outward-facing component 510 of the smart doordevice 500 can include an outward-facing camera 512, a display 514, amicrophone 516, a proximity sensor 518, a credential receiver 520, andan input 522. As shown in FIG. 5B, the inward-facing component 530 ofthe smart door device 500 can include a motion detector 532 or otherinward-facing sensor, a display 534, a microphone 536, and a proximitysensor 538. Other configurations and/or component combinations of theoutward-facing component 510 and the inward-facing component 530 may beincluded without departing from the spirit or scope of the presenttechnology.

Example Smart Door Implementations of the Present Technology

The advantageous facial recognition implementations described herein maybe used throughout the duration of a cruise sailing or other event toimprove customer experiences by providing a multifunctional device thatcan enhance the enjoyment, comfort, and functionality of stateroomaccommodations, improve customers' safety and security associated withtheir stateroom accommodations, avoid the necessity of carrying awearable or other access credential while on a cruise, and provideanonymized data to a cruise operator for further enhancement of safetyand security of all passengers and crew aboard. Several exampleimplementations will now be described with reference to the ship-basedcomputing system 300 of FIG. 3 and the smart door devices 310, 500 ofFIGS. 4-5B.

In some embodiments, the smart door devices 310, 500 are configured toperform biometric authentication. For example, customers can gain accessto their staterooms using a facial recognition system or other biometricauthentication method of the present technology, rather than a key cardor other credential. In the data store 306, a customer profile may belinked with a stateroom identifier associated with the customer'sreserved or assigned stateroom. While aboard the ship, the customer mayunlock the door to the stateroom by showing his or her face at the smartdoor device 310 integrated with the customer's stateroom, as describedabove with reference to FIG. 3. When multiple customers, such as familymembers, are staying together in the same stateroom, each of thecorresponding customer profiles in the data store 306 is linked to thestateroom identifier such that any of the family members canindividually gain access to the stateroom at any time using facialrecognition at the smart door device 310. In addition, a stateroomoccupant may grant permission for one or more other customer profiles tobe linked with the same stateroom identifier such that a selected groupof customers (e.g., other family or friends staying in a differentstateroom) can gain access to the occupant's stateroom. In one exampleimplementation, stateroom occupants may be permitted to add othercustomers to an allowed access list using a self-serve feature of acruise operator-associated application on the customer's mobile device(e.g., a user device 316 and/or an inward-facing component 530 of thesmart door device 500). The stateroom occupant can grant permission atthe beginning of a sailing or during the sailing using the cruiseoperator-associated application. In some embodiments, the applicationmay be configured to limit access to the self-serve feature to certainmembers of a travel party (e.g., to allow parental control or overridefunctionality, and to ensure adherence to security measures or otheronboard regulations). In some embodiments, the self-serve feature may beimplemented in a “plan your cruise” feature on the cruise operator'swebsite.

The smart door devices 310, 500 may further be configured to allow anoccupant to remotely unlock a stateroom door to allow another customerto access the room. For example, a friend, family member, or otheracquaintance of a stateroom occupant may have left an item within thestateroom or otherwise have reason to access the stateroom while theoccupant is not present. The other customer may approach the stateroomdoor and may use the input 522 of the outward-facing component 510 ofthe smart door device 500 to contact the occupant. The occupant, in alocation remote from the stateroom, may receive a notification (e.g., atthe occupant's user device 316) of the access request, along with animage, video, or live stream from the outward-facing camera 512. Theoccupant's user device 316 may further display a selectable option togrant or deny access to the person visible in the image, video, or livestream. If the occupant selects the grant option, the smart door device310, 500 causes the electronic lock to unlock the door. If the occupantselects the deny option, the smart door device 310, 500 does not causethe electronic lock to unlock the door, and may further provide anotification at the smart door device 310, 500 that access has not beengranted (e.g., via the display 514 of the outward-facing component 510).

In addition to granting stateroom access via an electronic lock, thesmart door devices 310, 500 can further be configured to providepersonalization services to the stateroom occupants. As discussedelsewhere herein, a customer profile in the data store 306 of theship-based computing system 300 may include user stateroom preferencessuch as HVAC or climate control preferences, stateroom lightingpreferences, in-room media preferences, and the like. In someembodiments, these preferences may include default preferencescorresponding to climate control, lighting, media, or other settings tobe applied when a user enters their stateroom. The smart door devices310, 500 can be configured to retrieve user stateroom preference datafrom the data store 306 when a user enters the stateroom via biometricrecognition or a credential, or the user stateroom preferences may bestored at the smart door devices 310, 500 for each of the customersassociated with the stateroom. Thus, when a user unlocks his or herstateroom door, the smart door device 310, 500 can identify theparticular user that unlocked the door and can apply one or more of theuser's default settings by modifying a configuration of a networkedappliance within the stateroom in response to the facial recognitionresult of the identified particular user that initiates the unlocking ofthe stateroom door. For example, the smart door device 310, 500 of theuser's stateroom may set the stateroom thermostat to a desiredtemperature, turn on a desired combination of room lights, cause anin-room audio system to play a desired type of music, cause a televisionto turn on and show a desired channel, cause the window shades to moveto a desired position, etc. In some embodiments, the smart door devices310, 500 can apply user stateroom preferences conditionally. Forexample, the smart door devices 310, 500 may implement a user'sstateroom preferences when the user enters the user's unoccupiedstateroom alone, but may be configured not to implement one or more ofthe user's default HVAC/climate control, lighting, or media settingswhen the user enters the stateroom with one or more other customersand/or when the smart door device 310, 500 determines that anothercustomer is already in the stateroom (e.g., based on a signal from themotion detector 532 or other inward-facing sensor).

The smart door devices 310, 500 may further be configured to grantstateroom access to crew members, for example, using biometricauthentication and/or based on a credential received at a credentialreceiver 418, 520. A crew member may desire to access a stateroom toprovide one or more services requested and/or scheduled by an occupantof the stateroom. For example, an occupant may request a delivery of anitem such as a newspaper, or a service such as in-room dining, cleaningservices, maintenance to repair a broken or malfunctioning appliance, orthe like. When a crew member arrives to deliver the item, the crewmember may be able to access the interior of the stateroom via the smartdoor device 310, 500 or based on biometric authentication such as facialrecognition.

Crew member access may be provided in accordance with one or morebusiness rules stored in the mass storage device 422 and/or in the datastore 306 of the ship-based computing system 300. For example, the smartdoor device 310, 500 of the stateroom may be configured to allow accessto only a particular crew member or subset of crew members (e.g., forin-room dining, the authorized crew may be only the crew memberscheduled to deliver the occupant's order or may be limited to thesubset of crew members who deliver in-room dining), for example, byadding an identifier of the crew member or subset of crew members to alist of those authorized to access the stateroom stored in a local datastore such as the mass storage device S422. In some embodiments, theoccupant may schedule the delivery or service during a specified orpredetermined time window so that the crew member does not arriveunexpectedly. The occupant may schedule the schedule the delivery orservice using the cruise operator-associated application. In suchimplementations, the smart door device 310, 500 may be configured toallow access to the authorized crew member(s) only during thepredetermined time window, and to deny access even if an appropriatecrew credential is provided before or after the specified time window.In another example, access may be granted with a short time delay (e.g.,5-30 seconds) if an occupant is detected within the stateroom such thatthe crew member is required to knock on the stateroom door or to providetime for a notification to be provided within the stateroom. In anotherexample of a business rule for crew member access, an authorized crewmember may be granted access to a stateroom only when the smart doordevice 310, 500 of the stateroom detects, using the facial recognitionmethods disclosed herein, that two or more crew members are present(e.g., based on detecting two crew members via facial recognition,detecting two or more wireless crew credentials, or a combination of thetwo). Advantageously, providing access to crew members using a smartdoor device makes it easier for requested services and deliveries tooccur while a guest is elsewhere enjoying the amenities of the shiprather than waiting for a crew member to arrive.

In embodiments of the smart door devices 310, 500 configured for lockingand unlocking of a stateroom door, the smart door devices 310, 500 mayfurther be configured to capture and store images and/or video footagecorresponding to each unlocking or access event. For example, a recordof each unlocking or access event may be stored in a database (e.g.,mass storage device 422 or data store 306); the images or video of thearea outside the stateroom door captured within a time interval (e.g., 1second, 2 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, or longer) of theunlocking or access event may also be stored in the database inassociation with the record of the unlocking or access event. Suchstorage of associated images or video may provide an audit log that canbe used to further aid in identifying an individual accessing thestateroom.

In some embodiments, the smart door devices 310, 500 are configured toprovide hospitality alerts to customers and/or to the cruise operator.Hospitality alerts may be notifications, status updates, or other alertsassociated with any hospitality services. In one particular example of astatus update to a customer, the smart door devices 310, 500 may beconfigured to provide a notification to an occupant when a requesteditem has been delivered. For example, a newspaper may be delivered tothe floor in front of a customer's stateroom door. The smart door device310, 500 of the customer's stateroom may detect that the delivery hasoccurred (e.g., based on identifying a crew member delivering thenewspaper using facial recognition or based on detecting the newspaperusing the outward-facing camera 416, 512), and may alert the customer(e.g., by displaying a notification and/or playing a sound on thedisplay 534 and/or a speaker of the inward-facing component 530 of thesmart door device 500, and/or by sending a notification to theoccupant's user device 316). Other examples of occupant-directedhospitality alerts may include, for example, a notification to theoccupant's user device 316 that a requested cleaning or repair has beencompleted. In addition to occupant-requested services, the smart doordevices 310, 500 may further be configured to provide hospitality alertsat the beginning of a cruise sailing, for example, to notify a customeror group of customers that their stateroom is ready. For example, anembarkation process may typically take about 4 to 6 hours, during whichcrew members are cleaning and preparing staterooms for the arrival ofpassengers for the sailing. Accordingly, in the event that a customerboards the ship before the customer's stateroom is fully prepared forthe customer's arrival, the smart door device 310, 500 installed at thecustomer's stateroom may subsequently provide a notification to thecustomer (e.g., based on facial recognition results associated with thecrew members preparing the customer's stateroom) when the stateroom isnow ready.

In another example, the smart door devices 310, 500 may be configured toprovide hospitality alerts to the cruise operator. For example, a smartdoor device 310, 500 may detect (e.g., using the outward-facing camera416, 512) that a room service tray or other item to be collected hasbeen placed outside a stateroom door and may responsively send anotification to one or more crew members that the tray or other item isready to be picked up. Other notifications to crew that cause ahospitality service to be provided may similarly be provided and may bebased on the various facial recognition implementations disclosedherein. Advantageously, hospitality alerts may allow for a more seamlessand efficient provision of hospitality services, improving comfort andconvenience for passengers and allowing crew members to work moreefficiently.

The smart door devices 310, 500 of the present technology may beconfigured to provide a live view or electronic peephole functionalityusing the outward-facing camera 416, 512. In some embodiments, a smartdoor live view may replace a conventional peephole in a stateroom door,for example, by displaying a live stream video or a sequence of stillimages on a display visible to an occupant of the stateroom. In oneexample, the live stream video or still images may be displayed on thedisplay 534 of the inward-facing component 530 of the smart door device500, which may be wall mounted or mobile as described elsewhere herein.In another example, the live stream video or still images may bedisplayed on a user device 316 corresponding to an occupant of thestateroom, such as an occupant's tablet or smart phone. Display of thelive stream or images may be triggered based on a detection of a personnear the smart door device 310, 500 (e.g., by outward-facing camera 416,512 and/or by proximity sensor 538), and/or based on a request from theoccupant. In some embodiments, the smart door devices 310, 500 arefurther configured to identify one or more passengers visible within thearea outside the stateroom using the facial recognition processesdescribed herein. In one exemplary implementation, the smart doordevices 310, 500 may be configured to augment the live view withidentifiers of recognized customers visible within the live view (e.g.,when the smart door devices 310, 500 recognizes other customersassociated with the occupants of the stateroom, such as family membersor other customers with linked itineraries). Advantageously, a live viewprovided by a smart door device 310, 500 may conveniently allow anoccupant to see the area outside the occupant's stateroom and/oridentify family or friends present at the stateroom from a location awayfrom the door, either within the stateroom or elsewhere within the ship.

In some embodiments, the smart door devices 310, 500 may further beconfigured to collect data and/or provide alerts to the cruise operator.In one example, the smart door devices 310, 500 may be configured toprovide safety and security alerts based on conditions detected in theproximity of the smart door devices 310, 500. For example, in someembodiments the smart door devices 310, 500 are configured to detecthazardous conditions such as fire, smoke, abandoned packages, unexpectedloitering, or other unsafe conditions based on images captured at theoutward-facing camera 416, 512. Such hazardous conditions may bedetected based on various facial recognition, shape recognition, colorrecognition, or pattern recognition processes or other known imageanalysis techniques. Fire or smoke may be detected using a temperaturesensor and/or a near-infrared sensor, which may be one of the sensors420 of the smart door device 310. An array of temperature sensorslocated at stateroom doors may advantageously detect fires more quicklyand with more granularity for precise determination of a fire location,relative to other sensors such as smoke detectors or more sparselyspaced sensors. For example, if each smart door device 310, 500 isconfigured to send a notification to the server 304 when an abnormalhigh temperature (e.g., a temperature detected above a predeterminedfire alert threshold) is detected, the server 304 may determine one ormore fire locations based on the notifications received from several ofthe smart door devices 310, 500. In another example, a smart door device310, 500 can be in communication with a door position sensor connectedto the associated stateroom door, and may be configured to transmit asecurity alert when the smart door device 310, 500 determines that thestateroom door has been open for longer than a threshold time (e.g., 1minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or longer). In yet anotherexample, in the case of a person being reported missing or lost byfamily, friends, or other companions, the various smart door devices310, 500 may be able to provide a last known location of the missingperson. In a mustering event, data from the smart door devices 310, 500(e.g., door opening/closing data, inward-facing sensor data, etc.) maybe used to determine if all customers have actually left theirstaterooms as required.

In a further example, the smart door devices 310, 500 may be configuredfor use in one or more health or disease monitoring systems. In someembodiments, one of the sensors 420 may be a thermal imaging sensor(e.g., an infrared imaging sensor, a near-infrared imaging sensor, etc.)configured to determine temperatures of imaged areas based on infraredintensity. For example, the thermal imaging sensor may be configured todetermine or estimate the body temperatures of people in the vicinity ofa smart door device 310, 500, such as within the field of view of thethermal imaging sensor, to detect customers having a fever or otherelevated body temperature condition. In one particular implementation,the thermal imaging sensor may be operable in conjunction with thefacial recognition technology described herein. For example, when asmart door device 310, 500 detects the presence of a face based onvisible light imaging, a processor of the smart door device may causethe thermal imaging sensor to determine the temperature of the face, aregion of the face, such as the forehead or temple region, or a regionnear the face, such as the neck region. The collected temperature datamay be sent to the data center 302 for storage and/or analysis. In someembodiments, the collected temperature data may be stored in associationwith customers identified using facial recognition, such as for contacttracing of customers determined to have an identified infectiousdisease. In some embodiments, the collected temperature data mayalternatively or additionally be anonymized and aggregated, such as foridentifying the presence of a significant number of incidences of feverwhich may be indicative of the presence of an infectious disease.

In a further implementation of data collection for the cruise operator,the smart door devices 310, 500 may be configured to collect andanonymize data for foot traffic analysis. In one example, each smartdoor device 310, 500 may be configured to identify each time a person isdetected walking by the smart door device 310, 500. Known image analysisalgorithms may enable the smart door devices 310, 500 to determine thedirection of travel as well. In some embodiments, the smart door devices310, 500 are further configured to determine how many people are withineach group of people walking by, based on the facial recognitiontechnology embodied therein. For example, the smart door device 310, 500may be configured to detect each face passing by, but may be configuredonly to detect and not to determine a facial recognition result forthose faces that do not stop in front of the smart door device 310, 500,such that foot traffic data remains anonymized. A count may be recordedin the local data store for each anonymous face passing the smart doordevice. The anonymized foot traffic data may be transmitted to the datastore 306 of the ship-based computing system 300, where the data may bestored and further analyzed in an aggregate foot traffic analysis tounderstand which areas of the ship are relatively busy and which areasare relatively empty. Advantageously, anonymized traffic analysis mayenable a cruise provider to better understand the activities of itsguests in the aggregate so as to provide a better experience withoutrecording individual passengers' movements undesirably.

Additional Embodiments

It will be understood that not necessarily all objects or advantages maybe achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment describedherein. Thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize thatcertain embodiments may be configured to operate in a manner thatachieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taughtherein without necessarily achieving other objects or advantages as maybe taught or suggested herein.

Many other variations than those described herein will be apparent fromthis disclosure. For example, depending on the embodiment, certain acts,events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein can beperformed in a different sequence, can be added, merged, or left outaltogether (for example, not all described acts or events are necessaryfor the practice of the algorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments,acts or events can be performed concurrently, for example, throughmulti-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processorsor processor cores or on other parallel architectures, rather thansequentially. In addition, different tasks or processes can be performedby different machines and/or computing systems that can functiontogether.

Although the smart door devices, services and systems described aboveare generally described in the context of providing access, goods,and/or services to customers of a cruise operator, the teachings of thepresent technology may be applied in a variety of different contexts.For example, access control may be desirable in the contexts ofentertainment events, hotels or other hospitality services and systems,other transportation systems such as airlines, train operators, and thelike, banking and other financial services and systems, healthcareservices and systems, and health information technology (HIT) servicesand systems.

The elements of a method, process, or algorithm described in connectionwith the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied directly inhardware, in a software module stored in one or more memory devices andexecuted by one or more processors, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module can reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, media, or physical computer storage known in the art. An examplestorage medium can be coupled to the processor such that the processorcan read information from, and write information to, the storage medium.In the alternative, the storage medium can be integral to the processor.The storage medium can be volatile or nonvolatile. The processor and thestorage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a userterminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium canreside as discrete components in a user terminal.

All of the methods and processes described herein may be embodied in,and partially or fully automated via, software code modules executed byone or more general purpose computers. For example, the methodsdescribed herein may be performed by the computing system and/or anyother suitable computing device. The methods may be executed on thecomputing devices in response to execution of software instructions orother executable code read from a tangible computer readable medium. Atangible computer readable medium is a data storage device that canstore data that is readable by a computer system. Examples of computerreadable mediums include read-only memory, random-access memory, othervolatile or non-volatile memory devices, CD-ROMs, magnetic tape, flashdrives, and optical data storage devices.

What is claimed is:
 1. A smart door device for stateroom access controlon a cruise ship, the smart door device comprising: a housing disposedwithin or proximate to a door of a stateroom of the cruise ship, thedoor being unlockable by an electronic door lock; a local data storewithin the housing in communication, via a ship-based network, with aship-based data store having stored thereon a plurality of customerprofiles associated with individual customers embarked on the cruiseship, the local data store having stored thereon at least a portion ofone or more profiles of the plurality of customer profiles, the one ormore profiles associated with customers permitted to access thestateroom; a wide angle camera disposed at an exterior of the housingand configured to image a public area of the cruise ship adjacent to thedoor of the stateroom; a proximity sensor disposed at the exterior ofthe housing and configured to detect the presence of an object withinthe public area of the cruise ship adjacent to the door of thestateroom; and a processor within the housing and in communication withthe local data store, the proximity sensor, and the wide angle camera,the processor configured to: receive, from the proximity sensor, asignal indicative of the presence of an object; capture, by the wideangle camera in response to the signal, an image of a face of a persondisposed within the public area; locally generate, based on one or morefacial recognition software algorithms and the at least a portion of theone or more profiles, a facial recognition result indicating that theperson is one of the customers permitted to access the stateroom; andcause, in response to the facial recognition result, the electronic doorlock to unlock the door of the stateroom.